George Villar

Just posted on MotoGP official website. Goodbye. Won't miss him.

jonesdx

Good Riddance, I'm good with watching Nicky for another year.

Styler

I'm still going to cheer for Rossi. What brand he rides is irrelevant to me wanting to see him do well, but it also will not affect my choice of what brand of bike I buy.

WAfatboy

Ye go Rossi, he's a dude what ever bike he rides

bradp51

I am with you WAfatboy. I am going for Rossi. Love to see him back on the podium. Heading down to PI this year to watch.

Desmorider

Yessir. Valentino has been very good for the sport.

PANERISTI

I was hoping Rossi would be able to develop the bike for Hayden (like he did for Repsol 2006.)

Like others have said, Stoner cannot develop a competitive bike. 1st year on Ducati, 1st place, 1st year on Honda, 1st place. After the first year, Stoner has yet to become a consecutive champion like Rossi.

I think Rossi and Lorenzo on the Factory Yamaha will end up similar to Pedrosa and Hayden with team rules.

mat1529

Big +1 from me on this one! Just shame Rossi couldn't develope the Ducati...

And I have a Pani because I love the bike not because anybody rides for Ducati...

koreanano

whos taking over him?

PANERISTI

From the rumors, it seems most likely Andrew Dovizioso will sign a 2 year contract with Ducati. (not 100% positive but I think this would make the most sense.)

Casey Stoner is planning to retire, which leaves Honda looking for another factory rider.

rayrush

I was wondering if they would make a 1199 Rossi version. Surely that would have been in Ducati's plans? I was thinking it would be a 2013 version but now his leaving i wonder if they will make a 1199 Rossi version this year.

MacaveliMC

Marc Marquez signed with Honda a while ago to ride in MotoGP. Which is awesome, because he's real good.

PANERISTI

Anyone know what Rossi thought of the Panigale?

Haven't heard anything after Carlos Checa tested the Panigale either.

I wish they did testing and recorded laptimes between Bayliss, Rossi, Checa & Hayden.

PANERISTI

I wonder if it has anything to do with the Audi aquiring Ducati.

GIrish

Well, by that logic, Rossi also cannot develop a competitive bike. Stoner won several races the year before Rossi got on the bike and in the 2 years since, Rossi didn't even manage one podium in the dry.

Truth is that Stoner gave Ducati a lot of the same feedback that Rossi and everyone else who rode the bike did. The difference is that Stoner could ride around the problems, everyone else couldn't. And for whatever reason, Ducati was unwilling or unable to fix the problems, even with Rossi on the bike and their reputation on the line.

As for Stoner and Honda in 2012, simple fact is that they have chatter problems and the new front tire has made it worse. Chatter is something that the engineers have to figure out, nothing Stoner or Pedrosa says is going to fix that. Even then, give Yamaha credit for developing a sweet handling bike, and Lorenzo credit for taking full advantage of it.

GIrish

I have to think it did. An editorial I read said something to the effect that when Audi started the purchase process they had to do a thorough audit of Ducati's finances and that money the might have gone towards Moto GP may have gotten frozen up. Even if that was not the exact case, it stands to reason that Ducati couldn't dig deep into the coffers to spend more money on Moto GP while they were being acquired.